Book Review

This book was magic.

I have been in a reading slump. For some reason I thought participating in three bible studies this fall was a good idea. I learned a lot and I don't regret a minute of it but it certainly set severe limits on my fiction reading. When all my studies wrapped up in November, I was excited to get a few weeks off to recharge.

Much to my chagrin, I made one fruitless trip to the library after another. Each time I would return with an armload of books (Is anything in the world better than an armload of books, I ask you?) And each time I would find that none of those books could interest me in the least. I began to worry. Was it me? Had three months immersed in bible study ruined me for trashy chick lit or glossy New York Times bestsellers?

Out of desperation, I ran into the library one Friday afternoon with Savannah. We were in a hurry so I grabbed the first book with an interesting cover and headed out the door. I began reading with a somewhat bad attitude. The prose seemed overly written for the first few pages. Once I gave in to it though this book was like soaking in a bubble bath while drinking hot chocolate and getting a foot massage.

It's a very short book and I finished it the next day at Monkey Joe's. In case you don't know, Monkey Joe's is an indoor jumpy type place where you pay large amounts of money to read a book while your kids run around like crazy people.

The book is about a restaraunt owner who gives a weekly cooking class. She is overly obsessed with food. I mean big time. Her class is filled with a variety of characters. This could have been a trite plot. Different people brought together to cook...blah, blah, blah. But it wasn't. It was stunningly original.

Here is my favorite part. A long married couple are taking the cooking class. A series of flashbacks reveals that 15 years into their marriage, the wife has an affair. She sits her husband down to reveal the affair and to tell him that she is leaving him. She says that as she sits there looking at him, she realizes how much she is about to hurt him. She says that,at that moment, she knew that she would kill anyone who would hurt her husband that much. So she reveals the affair and begs for forgiveness and reconciliation. That scene caused me to literally sob while sitting at a formica table in the jumpy place. I received a lot of curious stares...mostly from my children. That scene crystallizes the agony of adultery for me. The person who you trust the most to protect you and love you does the most painful thing imaginable to you. That will mess up your emotional equalibrium for a really long time.

There are lots of other stories embedded in this little book. They are all worth reading. Take some tissues if you plan to read it in public though.